40 Filipino peacekeepers perform 'greatest escape' in Golan Heights

Dozens of Filipino UN peacekeepers performed the "greatest escape" from Syrian rebels, slipping away under the cover of night after the militants rammed their Golan Heights outpost with armed trucks, the Philippine military said yesterday. All 75 soldiers serving with a United Nations peacekeeping force in the Middle East flashpoint zone reached safety after the rebels, some linked to al-Qaeda, surrounded them and demanded their weapons on Thursday, military chief General Gregorio Catapang said. Catapang called it "the greatest escape" and praised the soldiers. "Although they were surrounded and outnumbered they held their ground," he said. However, the fate of 44 UN peacekeepers from Fiji remained unknown. The Fijians were taken captive by rebels just before the Filipinos were besieged. The troops are part of a UN peacekeeping force that has been stationed in the Golan Heights since 1974 to monitor a ceasefire between Israel and Syria. "Everyone is in a safe position. We left our [old] position, but we brought all our arms," said Lieutenant Colonel Ramon Zagala. President Benigno Aquino's spokesman, Herminio Coloma, issued a statement thanking the UN force as well as Syria, Israel, Qatar and the United States for their assistance in the crisis. "It is in our nation's interest to give priority to [the soldiers'] safety, but we will not turn our backs on our commitment to global security particularly in the Golan Heights and the Middle East," Coloma said. He did not elaborate on the help provided by the other countries although the head of peacekeeping operations, Colonel Roberto Ancan, said separately that the Syrians had provided "indirect fire support" that took the pressure off the besieged Filipinos. An initial group of 35 Filipino troops were picked up from their position by Irish UN soldiers in armoured vehicles on Saturday after Syrian rebels attacked their comrades positioned about 4km away, said the Philippine military. The remaining 40 soldiers engaged in a "seven-hour firefight" with rebels who tried to ram the gates with pick-up trucks carrying anti-aircraft guns. The soldiers, who were armed only with machine guns and rifles, held off the rebels, who even used a mortar to shell their positions, Ancan said. The troops later walked to safety to a UN position just over 2km away. The UN said the 40 Filipino peacekeepers withdrew shortly after midnight "during a ceasefire agreed with the armed elements". The rebels, including some linked to al-Qaeda's Syria affiliate, the al-Nusra Front, had earlier taken hostage 44 Fijian peacekeepers and even used an English-speaking Fijian hostage to relay their demand to the Filipino peacekeepers. However the Filipinos refused to surrender their weapons and remained in their fortified positions. Asked what the Filipino peacekeepers would do now, Zagala said "we continue our mission. Our commitment is still there". On August 23, the Philippine Defence Department announced that it would withdraw the 331-strong Filipino contingent serving as part of the United Nations Disengagement Force in the Golan Heights at the end of their tour of duty in October due to the worsening security situation. In March last year, Syrian rebels held 21 Filipino UN peacekeepers for four days and then in May held four Filipino peacekeepers for five days before releasing them. Israel seized 1,200 sq km of the Golan Heights during the 1967 six-day war, then annexed it in a move never recognised by the international community. Nidal Malik Hasan asks to become a citizen of Islamic State The former US Army psychiatrist sentenced to die for a 2009 shooting that killed 13 and wounded dozens more has released a letter saying he wants to become a citizen of the militant group Islamic State, according to a letter. Nidal Malik Hasan addressed a handwritten letter to Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, requesting citizenship with the group, according to a copy of the letter. "It would be an honour for any believer to be an obedient citizen soldier," Hasan wrote in the letter, verified for the Los Angeles Times by lawyer John Galligan on Saturday. Some of those injured in Hasan's attack expressed outrage at the letter. "What gives him the right to even communicate with these individuals?" retired army sergeant Alonzo Lunsford, who was a victim, said. In August last year, a military jury found Hasan guilty of 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted murder, and within a week sentenced him to die. At the time, he was the sixth inmate on military death row. McClatchy-Tribune

40 Filipino peacekeepers perform 'greatest escape' in Golan Heights

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Surrounded by rebels in the Golan Heights, 40 on UN mission slip away during the night, but fate of 44 Fijians taken captive is still unknown

Surrounded by rebels in the Golan Heights, 40 on UN mission slip away during the night, but fate of 44 Fijians taken captive is still unknown